Mr Nice Guy

Melbourne’s legal precinct might deal with the bad guys, but it’s also hiding a pretty nice one. The couple behind Carlton’s Middle Fish has created a candy-coloured, shabby-chic haven, dishing up Thai classics alongside Western comfort food (say, roast chicken with cauliflower, leek and jus, served with sticky rice and Thai salad). House-cured pork features heavily, perhaps peeking from rice porridge at breakfast or dolloped with oyster-sauce foam at dinner. Takeaway som tum makes a head-clearing lunch: spicy, sweet-sour shreds of green pawpaw, carrot and green beans mingle with pork belly.